easysql 0.1.0

getting to the sql prompt, quick and easy - saved connections, their passwords and their tunnels in one CLI + TUI
easysql-0.1.0 is not a library.

easysql (esql)

Canonical: gitlab.com/safteinzz/easysql · Mirror: github.com/safteinzz/easysql

getting to the sql prompt, quick and easy - saved connections, their passwords and their tunnels in one CLI + TUI

Install

cargo install easysql
esql self check   # is a newer release out?
esql self update  # install the latest

No cargo yet? Rust installs the same way on every distro: rustup.rs.

The real clients have to be on the machine, and cargo cannot bring them: they are not Rust. easysql works out the one command your machine needs and offers to run it, so you never have to go and find out.

The easysql tour: opening a saved postgres connection into a real psql session, coming back to the list, inspecting a connection that needs an ssh tunnel, editing one in the wizard, filtering, and the Passwords, Tunnels and Settings tabs

What you see first

Every connection you have saved, from every engine, in one list. Green answered, red did not, yellow means the tunnel it needs is not running. pw is a password already on file, and no client is the program that would open it missing.

The Connections tab listing seven connections across postgres, mysql, sqlite and sqlserver, with a details panel showing host, port, database, user and the psql command that will run

When it needs a tunnel

A forward dies with a reboot; the connection that needs it does not. easysql remembers which one, says so before you press anything, and Enter reopens it and connects in one step.

The details panel for a connection whose tunnel is closed, reading "tunnel to bastion is not open - Enter reopens it and connects", with the ssh -L command it will run

The command, built for you

The wizard shows the command it is building and what that command resolves to, so nothing about it is a surprise. Keys you added by hand are carried through untouched, and the file is backed up before every write.

The edit wizard for a postgres connection, with name, host, port, database, user and sslmode fields, previewing both the psql command and the user@host:port/database it resolves to

Passwords, where the client looks

Typed once into a hidden field, written straight to the file that engine's client reads, and never read back, never echoed, never put in an argv or an environment variable. easysql only ever shows you that one exists.

The Passwords tab listing five saved passwords by engine, host, database and user, each shown as dots, with a details panel noting the password itself is never read back

Tunnels are just ssh -L

Opened from the connection that needs one, with every field already filled in. Each forward says which connection it serves, and d kills it.

The Tunnels tab listing two ssh forwards by pid, one labelled "for metrics (postgres)", with a details panel showing the ssh -N -L command and the kill command

Settings

Which program opens each engine, whether ports are checked, what order the list is in. d puts any of them back.

The Settings tab showing eight settings grouped into behaviour and defaults, with the details panel explaining the selected one and naming the key it writes

Commands

The handful of things faster to type than to click. Everything else is in the toolbox, where ? lists every key.

esql                  # the toolbox
esql prod             # open a saved connection
esql prod -c 'select 1'   # anything after the name goes to the client
esql ls               # list them, one name per line
esql ls -v            # ...and where each one points

esql ls -v printing seven connections with their engine, name and user@host:port/database

What it edits

tab what it is the file it edits
Connections every saved connection, from every engine ~/.pg_service.conf, ~/.my.cnf, ~/.config/easysql/{sqlite,mssql}.conf
Passwords what unlocks them, written and never read back ~/.pgpass, ~/.my.cnf (both chmod 600)
Tunnels the ssh -L between you and a database you cannot route to tracked by pid, killable
Settings the choices that are yours rather than a client's ~/.config/easysql/settings

Every write backs the file up first and rewrites only the one section, so your own comments, ordering and extra keys survive.

When it fails

A connect that does not work is the interesting case, so easysql asks the server the same question again non-interactively, reads the client's own answer, and offers the step that would actually get you in:

  • no password supplied → save one in ~/.pgpass
  • Connection refused, or no pg_hba.conf entry for host → open an ssh tunnel
  • database "x" does not exist → edit the connection

Notes

  • Nothing is sent anywhere. A front end, not a client: easysql speaks no wire protocol and holds no connection open, it writes the files your tools already read and runs them, so uninstalling it costs you nothing.
  • apt, pacman, dnf, zypper and apk are recognised for the install offer. On anything else easysql names the program rather than guessing a package.

Compatibility

Four engines, each handed over to the client you already have: Postgres to psql, MySQL and MariaDB to mysql, SQLite to sqlite3, SQL Server to sqlcmd. Any of them can be pointed somewhere else in Settings.

SQL Server is the odd one out twice: no file both sqlcmd builds read, so easysql keeps that list itself and passes -S host,port -d db -U user, and it saves no password, because sqlcmd asking you is Microsoft's own advice over -P. It is in no distro's repos either, so there is no install to offer.

Linux. Tunnel liveness is read from /proc and killing a forward shells out to kill, so macOS and BSD need a different implementation first.

License

AGPL-3.0-only